Silver's Star Wars Novels Review Thread

[Silver]

Oh, I see. Most books have original art, but some around the time of the movies do have pictures from the movies edited together. And most of the time, the ones that do crop movie shots together look better than the one Legacy of the Jedi has.

[Silver]

Cloak of Deception



Author: James Luceno
Series: None
Format: Standalone
Era: Rise of the Empire
Chronological Year: 33 BSW4

Overview:
"Mired in greed and corruption, tangled in bureaucracy, the Galactic Republic is crumbling. In the outlying systems, where the Trade Federation maintains a strangehold on shipping routes, tensions are boiling—and now even the comfort of Coruscant is being invaded, as Jedi Master Qui-Gon Jinn and his apprentice Obi-Wan Kenobi foil an assassination attempt on Supreme Chancellor Valorum.
As humans and aliens gather for an emergency trade summit, conspiracies sealed with large sums of money run rampant, and no one is entirely above suspicion. But the greatest threat of all remains unknown to everyone except three members of the Trade Federation who have entered into a shadowy alliance with a dark overlord. While the trio will be content with more money and fewer problems, Darth Sidious has grander, far more terrifying plans."


CoD is a Luceno novel. That by itself should be enough indication that its quality is excellent. I had high expectations when I first started reading this, and my expectations were met.

Positive Elements
The story of Cloak of Deception is centered on a political crisis. Basically, the Nebula Front is an organization that initiates militant attacks on what it perceives as corrupt, Republic-sanctioned commerce and trade organizations, namely the Trade Federation. In response to the Nebula Front's attacks on their vessels, the Trade Federation requests the Republic Senate to allow them to have more military power to defend their vessels and cargo. The arrangement is offered that the Republic will agree if the Federation submits to taxation on their trade routes, as proposed by Chancellor Valorum (who originally gained this idea from Palpatine; so basically all of this is Palpatine's fault, as usual ). This creates a huge political debate (obviously...); so Valorum decides to hold a summit to meet with senators on the planet Eriadu where all of them will voice their opinions and discuss the matter. Now, that basically covers the plot on a grander theme. The lower level story revolves around a group of mercenaries who work for the Nebula Front, Cohl, Rella, and Boiny (what kind of name is Boiny, even for a Rodian? LOL) and Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan trying to stop their assaults on Trade Federation ships. Well, after attacking the Federation, Cohl and his crew accept a job to kill Chancellor Valorum at the summit on Eriadu as per the Nebula Front's orders, and the plot becomes much more complicated and interesting from there. Let me say this: there are several Star Wars novels whose plot is built around a political crisis, and honestly, not just any SW author can make a political crisis interesting. Luceno, on the other hand, succeeds in this respect. There are so many decisions throughout that have notable political ramifications, all of which can be complicated but are very much connected and lead into later novels flawlessly. And of course, Cohl isn't the only antagonist or instigator of events either. We do have Palpatine playing his political games and manipulating the Senate and Sid (i.e. Palpatine playing his Sith Lord games) manipulating the Trade Federation. All of it is intriguingly written, and the plot develops very well.

The descriptions in this book are very good. Maybe not the best of any SW novel ever written but still very engaging. One detail regarding the descriptions that was recurring throughout was the tendency to describe how characters look and a brief insight into their personalities. This is not done with the same consistency in other other Luceno novels in this era; so the reason I assume this was done here is because CoD is the earliest written prequel-era Star Wars novel (besides young reader novels anyway, but no one cares about those). So in a way, it might be described as an introductory novel. At times, the repeated meticulousness with which it goes about explaining how even insignificant characters look can feel unneeded, but all in all, it worked well. On a sidenote, Luceno does mention some other events in this era, such as the Stark Hyperspace War and related arcs that took place in the Republic comic series, and it is always nice when a writer mentions other writers' stories (because you can tell who does their research and who doesn't ).

Luceno is one of the best authors there is when it comes to understanding the nature of the Force and Jedi and Sith philosophy, and CoD even manages to throw in some Force extrapolations. In particular, one of the multiple points that stuck out to me was that the book indicates that were the Force imbalanced toward the light, the Jedi would be blinded by it, just as they are blinded by the Force being imbalanced toward the dark. This came across as interesting to me, because we always hear about how the Force is imbalanced toward the dark side in the PT, but we never really know what would happen if the Force was imbalanced toward the light. There are other points of note that Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan mention which were equally worthwhile.

Characterization is very good. In particular, I enjoyed the portrayals of Qui-Gon, Yoda, and Palpatine. For Qui-Gon, the novel showed his tendency to annoy the Jedi Council, just because he can never seem to do what they tell him to. It also does emphasize his specific thinking pertaining to the Force. Qui-Gon is an avid follower of the Living Force concept. For those of you who may not know what that means and only heard it mentioned in The Phantom Menace, the Living Force concept is an outlook wherein a Jedi trusts the Force to guide them through their present circumstances through direct interaction with the things around them. They pay less attention to the events of the future and instead focus on what they can do in the here and now. This was even reflected in Qui-Gon's fighting style as the book described how he just engaged without much forethought and simply adapts as he goes along. Now, someone like Yoda, on the other hand, is a firm adherent to the Unifying Force concept, which focuses on trusting the Force to foresee events in the future and thinking of how the Force operates on a grand and cosmic scale. So where Yoda would be constantly thinking of the potential repercussions of his decisions, Qui-Gon just makes more spur-of-the-moment choices.

Speaking of Yoda, his usual inverted-sentences, riddle-talking share of ancient wisdom was good to read about as well, despite the fact that his role in this book was marginal. In characterizing Yoda, CoD even went so far to say that he was almost something of a trickster; when teaching someone a lesson he wanted to impart, he would fool them into saying something that makes them realize the flaw in their own reasoning and then, of course, give his backwards platitudes.

Palpatine was interesting to read about, because some of what transpires is actually described from his perspective. Usually when Palpatine appears in the prequel era, his decisions and his talking is shown from someone else's perspective rather than his, or at least, his perspective is described only briefly. In this, however, it does give a decent amount of time to his perspective on what happens. And of course, Palpatine is the mild-mannered, good-intentioned politician. Sidious, conversely, is the malevolent Sith Lord. This book, more than most others, did a good job of showing the disparity between the two personae, probably on account of its descriptions from Palpatine's perspective. But the way it shows Palpatine's perspective is as how other people would see him, to the point that it almost seems to want the reader to treat Palpatine and Sidious as different characters. That point was unique for me, because usually, other characters are the only ones to whom Palpatine's ploy is presented, but in this novel, it handles Palpatine's incorruptible, easy-going politician facade as if it is a true aspect of him not only to the characters he lies to but to the reader included.

Vergere. The simple fact that she appeared in this is sufficient to warrant a high mark from me. If you know anything about the NJO, you know Vergere later becomes very important, and as Luceno was one of the more important writers for the NJO series, I like that he chose to include her here. Vergere hardly does anything in this book, to be honest; she's just sort of there. But acknowledgement and establishment of her life as a Jedi at this time was important to note, and her involvement by itself is good enough.

Cohl and his crew are interesting enough. As individual characters, they may not be heavily explored or developed, but they were interesting enough for me to care about what they were doing nonetheless, which is good since that avoids having a lame antagonist (well, they constitute some of the antagonists anyway; there are others besides them).

One of the major highlights of this book is its placement in continuity. Cloak of Deception is essentially a prequel to The Phantom Menace (a prequel to the prequel ;D ). It takes place just before, and it explains pretty much everything that happens in TPM. It explains why the Republic takes issue with the Trade Federation; it explains why Chancellor Valorum is thought of as a weak chancellor; it explains (albiet briefly) how Sidious first came into contact with the Trade Federation; it explains why the Trade Federation first started blockading Naboo; it explains why Mas Amedda was given his role; and so on. It succeeds on so many levels on this point. Really, none of this is even needed to be explained at all for TPM to work coherently as a story, but even then, the backstory fits perfectly with continuity and is easily appreciable.


Negative Elements
Not a huge problem, but there were a few editing errors, like saying "though" instead of "thought" (because the two are so interchangeable...).

At some points, I felt like the descriptions were too outwardly focused. As I said, the descriptions go into great detail of how characters carry themselves, how other characters perceive them, and so on, but it could have done with a little more emphasis on what the characters feel and think and experience. This is a minor point though, because the novel does explain those points; I just felt a little lacking in them a few times and thought that some of the superficial descriptions could have been substituted for more interesting internal ones.


Cloak of Deception is a very good book, a good start to a good chain of stories. Luceno never disappoints.

Score: 9/10 Excellent

[Silver]

@k4tz: My next review will be Darth Maul: Shadow Hunter. I may be a few weeks (months?) late, but I will have that done within the next week. And I mean that this time.

[Power NeXus]

I feel like I read Cloak of Deception a long time ago, but I really can't remember it.

[Silver]

Darth Maul Shadow Hunter



Author: Michael Reaves
Series: None
Format: Standalone
Era: Rise of the Empire
Chronological Year: 32 BSW4

Overview:
"After years of waiting in the shadows, Darth Sidious is taking the first step i his master plan to bring the Republic to its knees. Key to his scheme are the Neimoidians of the Trade Federation. Then one of his Neimoidian contacts disappears, and Sidious does not need his Force-honed instincts to suspect betrayal. He orders his apprentice, Darth Maul, to hunt the traitor down.
But he is too late. The secret has already passed into the hands of information broker Lorn Pavan, which places him right at the top of Darth Maul's hit list. Then, in the labyrinthine alleyways and sewers of Coruscant, capital cit of the Republic, Lorn crosses paths with Darsha Assant, a Jedi Padawan on a mission to earn her Knighthood. Now the future of the Republic depends on Darsha and Lorn. But how can an untried Jedi and an ordinary man, stranger to the powerful ways of the Force, hope to triumph over one of the deadliest killers in the galaxy?"


This is one of the only novels with a focus on Maul, and as one of the main protagonists (and antagonists), a good portion of it is shown from his perspective, which is satisfactory.

Positive Elements
The descriptions are very straightforward and engaging. DMSH is a very action-based book, and the novel's pacing fits that very well. In fact, the book takes the reader straight into its plot and wastes no time with building it. All of it is very direct and well-worded.

Michael Reaves has a very stern grasp of the natures of Jedi and Sith philosophy and the Force. Maybe not to the level that someone like Stover or Luceno do, but his elaborations on those concepts in this book is rewarding. Particularly, he explains the precepts of the Jedi code in great detail and shows how they reflect on the decisions of the Jedi in this book. Maul's trusting on his own training to guide his actions and increase his effectiveness on his mission is similarly detailed, and none of it is included out of nowhere. The issue of the Force and Jedi/Sith ideology always arises when it has direct relevance to the story or to the characters' development.

Alright, the story. The story is basically this: Hath Monchar, one of the Neimoidians with the Trade Federation, defects from his peers and attempts to sell information on the the workings of the Trade Federation and Sidious (because double-crossing a Sith Lord is such a brilliant idea...). So in response, Good Old Uncle Sid sends the Awesome Darth Maul to kill him. But unfortunately for Maul, Lorn Pavan and his droid I-Five manage to steal the holocron that Monchar had, which contains valuable information. So then Maul has hunt this guy down. This would never have been a problem for him if not for those pesky Jedi intervening, namely Darsha Assant. By chance, she ends up running into and helping Lorn (she helps him because she's a Jedi and stuff); she intends to take him back to the Jedi Temple so they can inform the Jedi about Maul. So now Maul has to hunt a young Jedi, a loser information broker, and a sarcastic droid before they reach the Temple (because Good Old Uncle Sid wants the Sith to remain in hiding for a little while longer). And from there, everything becomes much more interesting. The hunt itself takes place through the lower and rougher levels of Coruscant; so of course, everyone runs into a few obstacles along the way. Speaking honestly, much of Lorn and Darsha's success at evading Maul comes from pure luck or circumstance, which makes it a little funny. The direction of the plot is very easy to follow, but despite its relative simplicity, it will keep your attention, in part because of the characters.

Which brings me to my next point: The book features stellar characterization. Maul is not the only protagonist here; Lorn, Darsha, and I-Five are as well, just as much as Maul is. This may sound disappointing, but it works well because the three of them advance well as characters. Lorn and Darsha are hardly the most original characters ever created; the two of them do follow relatively generic character archetypes. However, their development is substantial in spite of how short a time frame the entire plot of the book occurs in. Darsha is an enthusiastic (for lack of a better word) Jedi Padawan who wants desperately to become a Knight; however, with recent events in the novel, it seems that may not happen. But she is unwilling to abandon her teachings as a Jedi and actually attains a far greater understanding of some of her core beliefs than she had before over the period of the book. Lorn is a broke information broker (see what I did there?); his business can never seem to go as he wants it to. And he always ends up in a worse situation than he was before. The information he received from Hath Monchar was his chance to gain some real money and improve his life... Then Maul chases him, and he runs into a Jedi. So there goes that idea. The great part of Lorn's story is that he hates Jedi, and as the book progresses, you can discover why. But he is saved and protected by a Jedi; so his innate disdain for them is challenged. As for I-Five, there are very few droids in Star Wars that I actually find intriguing as characters; I-Five is one of them. Lorn modified him to amplify his creativity and free thinking processors to give him more individuality. He is basically as close as a droid can come to being human. All in all, the three of them are entertaining to read about, beginning to end.

As for Maul, this book did enlighten us on his character in certain ways as well. It hardly makes Maul the most well-faceted character out there, but it definitely creates more depth to him than Maul's inception did (although I guess that's not saying much). The novel gives us an outlook on Maul's past (slightly anyway), what he thinks of himself, what he thinks of Good Old Uncle Sid, what his ambitions are. It also gives Maul an unusual sense of honor in his killing, which was unexpected. Maul is a very combat-prone Sith Lord, and he just appears to be a merciless killer (and in many ways, he is). But he respects a skillful opponent, even if that opponent is a Jedi. The irony is that Maul abhors Jedi above everything else; his entire existence is bent on absolute destruction of the Jedi. Yet when a Jedi poses a challenge to him, he admires their efforts.

As I said, the novel is very action filled. There are several fight sequences, and it is a chase. Reaves manages to describe these scenes while simultaneously adding depth to the characters, which for me always renders fight scenes much more worthwhile, instead of just "Character A hit Character B on the side, and then Character B kicked Character A in the head" and so forth. It works much better when the facets of the characters play a role in how the outcome happens, and it also aids in making the story flow better.


Negative Elements
Probably the only complaint I have is that Shadow Hunter developed Lorn and Darsha more than it did Maul. They are as important to the story as he is, but at the same time, I feel like it could have developed him more than it did. What it did offer to Maul's character was good, and to be fair, Maul is a difficult character to build. But as the title character, I expected him to have just as much character development as the others did.


Where Cloak of Deception could be considered the prequel to The Phantom Menace from the Republic's perspective, Darth Maul Shadow Hunter could be considered the prequel from the Sith's perspective. Overall, this is the book to read if you want to learn about Maul. If you like Maul, read it; if you don't like Maul, read it.

Score: 8.5/10 Great



Darth Maul: Saboteur



Author: James Luceno
Series: None
Format: Short story/e-book, standalone
Era: Rise of the Empire
Chronological Year: 33 BSW4


Saboteur is a short story that was included in the paperback version of Darth Maul Shadow Hunter; so I will review that here with it.

Positive Elements
Saboteur ties together Cloak of Deception and Darth Maul Shadow Hunter, and I believe this was Luceno's intent. It actually takes place before either of them, and it succeeds at connecting everything together.

Luceno's descriptions, as usual, are worth reading. He manages to showcase characters and events in such a way as to hold the reader's interest.

The plot is this: Good Old Uncle Sid wants the Dorvalla mining industries to fall under Trade Federation hyperspace routes. To accomplish this end, he has Maul sabotage their work to limit productivity and force a merger between them and another mining industry (InterGalactic) as well as granting the Trade Federation passage. Simple enough.

Despite how short the story is (only around fifty pages), it does show Maul from a few unique perspectives, although it never grants a considerable amount of character depth. For instance, it emphasizes (as Shadow Hunter did), Maul's belief in discipline. Every action Maul takes is carefully conditioned, from his stealth tactics to his fighting styles to his Force abilities. Discipline affords him these benefits. It also shows a brief contrast between his role as a Sith and Sidious'.


Negative Elements
Not really much to say here. The story is too short to have any notable flaws, but on the other hand, it is also too short to be regarded as a profound story.


This is worth reading for the sake of connecting the main novels prior to TPM (and of course, it gives one more opportunity to read about Maul).

Score: 8/10 Great

[Silver]

The Phantom Menace



Author: Terry Brooks
Series: Prequel trilogy novelizations
Format: Trilogy. Book 1 of 3
Era: Rise of the Empire
Chronological Year: 32 BSW4

Overview:
"The Jedi Knight Qui-Gon Jinn and his apprentice, young Obi-Wan Kenobi, are charged with the protection of Amidala, the young Queen of Naboo, as she seeks to end the siege of her planet by Trade Federation warships. This quest brings Qui-Gon, Obi-Wan, and one of the Queen's young handmaidens to the sand-swept streets of Tatooine and the shop where the slave boy Anakin Skywalker toils and dreams of finding a way to win freedom from enslavement for himself and his beloved mother. His only hope lies in his extraordinary instincts and his strange gift for understanding the "rightness" of things. It is this unexpected meeting that marks the beginning of the drama that will become legend."


This is it. The first (chronologically) of the movie novelizations. Let me say before I begin that even though the novels may tell the same general story that the movies do, they offer very different perspectives on the story, which can make the quality between a film installment and its respective novelization distinct. That being said, TPM is a good book. I will say, however, that I consider it the weakest out of the movie novelizations.

Positive Elements
The Phantom Menace has a few scenes that never appeared in the movies. For instance, in the movie, it was mentioned that Anakin had a run-in with Sebulba in a previous race. This was shown in the book. There was also an encounter Anakin had with a Tusken Raider which was very interesting, but I would rather not elaborate on that here. It is very well done because of what we know about his later experiences with sand people. Most of the novelizations have a scene or two that are added, but TPM has more prolonged ones, which is good because it just presents the reader with more and more knowledge of what exactly is happening. And that is precisely what I expect from a novelization of a movie.

The descriptions work. This is all I can really say about them. They aren't extraordinary or overly articulate. They just do a decent job telling the story and explaining the situation.

The story we all know, and it is given more background in the book, for the better. The story of TPM is a political issue that escalates into military action on the part of the Trade Federation and of course the Sith behind the curtains pulling everyone's strings. The characterization is the same. Being able to directly read a character's inner musings and thoughts on an issue is always satisfying, because it grants depth to that character. TPM does that. As I said described above, there were a few added scenes, which help with moving the plot and characters forward, but as well, even with sequences that are already known (by "already known," I obviously mean "in the movie"), there are additional details laid out for the reader to gain a more complete view of the picture the author wants to convey. The scenes with the Jedi Council and Republic Senate are good examples of this, as they expand on what was shown in the movie. As for how this translates to characterization, it was always nice to have impressions of Qui-Gon's thought processes and emotions. Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan's relationship is shown well here, which I enjoyed and appreciated a good deal. There were also portions that come from the perspective of the Sith. When Sidious and Maul converse on Coruscant, Sidious is thinking about the history of the Sith, and the novel first identifies the Sith Lords Darth Ruin and Darth Bane. These are just a few examples. (More explanation on this in the Negative Elements section.)

The combat and more action-based events are displayed interestingly to the reader. I would hardly place Brooks as among the best Star Wars authors in that regard personally, but like I said, the book does its job in demonstrating its point. And it does retain your interest, even in some parts that can feel slower.

Extrapolations on the concepts and nature Force are always welcome for me personally, and this book has a few, just as the movie does. It introduces the Living Force outlook, and although I would have preferred more specificity on what that entailed, it gives an idea of what that involves. The book also discusses midichlorians with greater clarity than the movie does, as its descriptions of them are not limited to character conversations. With the movie, people somehow came away with the notion that midichlorians themselves are the Force, which is false (not sure how people received it that way in the first place, since that was never stated or even implied, and the two terms were never used synonymously with one another but anyway). However, the novel uses a number of alternate words and analogies to portray what midichlorians are and what they are not, while the movie is limited to only one real account of them and is restricted that singular delineation to draw meaning from. This helps in affording a clearer illustration of how much importance should be invested in them (and how much shouldn't) and what their underlying function is.


Negative Elements
The most significant flaw for me was that I was dissatisfied with the amount of characterization. One of the primary reasons the movie novelizations are excellent is because they show the characters' genuine emotions and experiences and goals and how their current circumstances align with and affect those facets as well as how their past does (if that is addressed). Doing this is a very easy way for the reader to understand that character and care about what happens with them, and it develops the characters to a more stellar degree than the movies do, as the movies can only rely on the success or failure of an acting performance to highlight this point. In that respect, the novelizations are better because of how much more direct they are. But the issue I had is that while there was time spent on the characters' musings/feelings/background, there was just not enough, at least for me. All of the other novelizations have more evident character depth than TPM did. Is it fair for me to compare TPM to the others? Maybe not, but it does rest outside the standard for character depth in the novelizations. What it did provide was good, but I would have liked the book considerably more if it spent more time describing the characters on a deeper level. Much of what is described is simply what happens. "Character A goes here. Character A talks to Character B. Character A walks this direction. Character A does this and that and all of this too..." The book should have broken the external sequences more often with internal descriptions while the external events unfold. After a certain period of time, the book would delve into the characters. I was just hoping for more than it supplied.

I have very little other complaint with TPM apart from that really. Yes, the Gungan parts could garner an eye-roll from me, but aside from lack of character description, there were no other substantial flaws with it.


As a whole, this is worth reading. The Phantom Menace, while it is the least intriguing of the movie novelizations in my opinion, is an essential part of the story when relating to the other novelizations, and its execution has merit.

Score: 7.5/10 Good

[Silver]

Darth Plagueis



Author: James Luceno
Series: None
Format: Standalone
Era: Rise of the Empire
Chronological Year: 67 BSW4

Overview:
"Darth Plagueis: one of the most brilliant Sith Lords who ever lived. Possessing power is all he desires. Losing it is the only thing he fears. As an apprentice, he embraces the ruthless ways of the Sith. And when the time is right, he destroys his Master—but vows never to suffer the same fate. For like no other disciple of the dark side, Darth Plagueis learns to command the ultimate power...over life and death.
Darth Sidious: Plagueis's chosen apprentice. Under the guidance of his Master, he secretly studies the ways of the Sith, while publicly rising to power in the galactic government, first as Senator, then as Chancellor, and eventually as Emperor.
Darth Plagueis and Darth Sidious, Master and acolyte target the galaxy for domination—and the Jedi Order for annihilation. But can they defy the merciless Sith tradition? Or will the desire of one to rule supreme, and the dream of the other to live forever, sow the seeds of their destruction?"


Darth Plagueis by James Luceno. I have no idea to begin this review, because there are just too many points to remark on, and I have to be very careful with what I say because I want the book to remain unspoiled. However, for me to review this, I have to mention some parts in detail in order to name the points I think were either good or bad. Let me begin by saying this: Darth Plagueis is easily one of the best Star Wars novels ever written. Let me follow that by saying that this review includes no major spoilers; however, if you have plans to read this novel, consider whether you really want to read this review or not. The less you know about what the novel entails going in, the better the reading experience will be. With that in mind, if you just want to know my thoughts on it, I direct you to my first comment and to the score at the bottom of the review.

Positive Elements
Where to begin? Let me start with the descriptions and narrative, since these are some the most straightforward points. The descriptions are great. I have read better descriptions in some other EU novels but not many. The descriptions in this book are so articulate and perfectly timed, there is nothing I can do to detract from them in any way. The best part about the descriptions is that they leave nothing unsaid. The book describes the different places/planets, what characters look like, what characters are thinking/feeling, how interactions/events impact one another, etc. The narrative of the book is unique among Star Wars novels, for a variety of reasons. As I said above, it occasionally gives details about how a simple occurrence can affect circumstances dramatically. One of the best lines in the book (nothing will be spoiled by my posting this): "Later it would be said by Naboo and Gungan alike that they couldn't recall a colder winter than the one that followed Hego Damask's autumnal visit to their world." Giving odd perspectives on details like that is part of what makes the book so good. Another part relating to how it ties events together is in relation to the time scale in the novel. The book is broken into thee parts, and each part is roughly a decade apart, the first part starting at 67 BSW4. But despite there being such large time gaps between sections of the story and even week or month long gaps between consecutive sequences, the story never loses its fluidity. The pacing is irreproachable. Every event is important in one form or another, and parts of the story that happen years apart still influence each other. Another great part of the narrative is the prologue and epilogue, which are interrelated (I will discuss more on those below). Lastly, there is a huge plot twist at some point in the book (when exactly, I won't say). This was simply excellent. While remaining vague about the specifics of it, the plot twist shifts your entire perspective about the events in the book and the events in the rest of the Rise of the Empire era.

Alright. The story. The plot basically revolves around how Plaguies and Sidious manipulate events of planetary or galactic consequence to amass influence and power for themselves, while simultaneously masking their truer beings as Sith Lords. There are numerous plot points throughout the book. To give general background, Plagueis's dual identity is that of a Sith Lord and that of a business man/trader. He discovers that there is a supply of plasma on Naboo, and his business and the Trade Federation begin working to control trade on Naboo for shipment of the plasma. And this creates a dilemma among the Naboo, as some would rather remain separated from the rest of the galaxy while others see trade as their means of becoming more prominent in the galactic community. This also serves to the manipulations of Plagueis as he alters the situation on Naboo to have certain people placed in power. The plot continues to evolve more and more from there. I will not reveal anything else, because, quite honestly, there is just too much for me to describe. The plot is a political crisis. I have said this before, and I will say it again: Not every Star Wars author has managed to make political crises interesting; Luceno always does. This book is evidence of that. In the course of the book, there are disputes and events surrounding Senate meetings, assassinations, political ranks being usurped, military forces being argued, so on and so on. The story is complicated, but it comes to fruition and ends strongly.

What I described above is the public side of it, the part that occurs in the "realm of the profane" (as Plagueis puts it). Behind the scenes, the story is about the workings of the Sith. This story line delves into the relationship of Plagueis and Sidious; the discoveries they make about the Force; the differences between them; how they view other Sith; and so on. These points in the book I will elaborate on when I discuss characterization and the Force, but I will only tell so much about it because of how crucial these subjects are to the book. However, let me identify one significant aspect of the story and narrative of this novel: it is not about simply the death of Darth Plagueis. Everyone knows Plagueis will die here. This was mentioned even in the movie; so this is no secret. In fact, the prologue is about the fact that Plagueis had died; so the from the very beginning, the book makes its direction known. Trust me, this is not a spoiler. The prologue showing outright that Plagueis died sets the stage for what the novel is really about. This is not a story about the fact that Plagueis dies; this is a story about the events leading up to Plagueis' death. Why he died, how he died, who benefited from his death, who he was in life, what effect he had on galactic history. That is the story, and it succeeds on every level.

Last point on the narrative: Luceno did his research. This books mentions and integrates myriads of events in Star Wars. It references characters who lived thousands of years before this story takes place and contains many characters pertinent to the lore. Writers who mention other events always win points because if they describe those events accurately, it becomes obvious they did their research. But seriously, I have never read a single Star Wars work that brought together so many lore pieces. Luceno even mentions and uses events that have only been mentioned in sourcebooks, not novels or comics or video games or the like, which shows how far he went in his studies and his careful planning. Plagueis actually features retellings of stories that originated in other published works but are shown from the perspective of a different character in order to draw emphasis to a separate issue relevant to both that story and the story in Plagueis. I lost count of how many other books and series Luceno references here: Tales of the Jedi, the Bane trilogy, Darth Maul: Saboteur, Cloak of Deception, Darth Maul Shadow Hunter, The Phantom Menace, Jango Fett: Open Seasons, Republic, Revenge of the Sith, the list goes on. Some of these are only indirect references, like the ones to Revenge of the Sith as that takes place long after even the latest events in this book. The reason there are so many references is: 1) Plagueis teaches Sidious about the exploits of countless Sith Lords, and 2) Plagueis is the ultimate prequel to the movies. Each of the prequel movies has a prequel novel to it (a prequel to the prequel). Cloak of Deception and to a lesser degree Darth Maul Shadow Hunter are the prequels to The Phantom Menace. The Approaching Storm is the prequel to Attack of the Clones. Labyrinth of Evil is the prequel to Revenge of the Sith. Part of what makes those books that lead to the movies good is that they offer intriguing background to the events in the movies, but at the same time, for the PT to coherently function as a story, those prequel novels are not really necessary. Plagueis is the same. You can understand later Star Wars events without reading Plagueis. It does not gain some mandatory relevance on which hinges the stories that come after it. But at the same time, once you read Plagueis, if you know the other EU works that come after and are familiar with the plot points in the movies, you will ask yourself why those weren't written like this in the first place. This is part of the excellence in this novel. Unnecessarily, it ties together stories in a seamless manner but gives so much lore information as to make it an essential EU addition. On my description about it being "seamless," I mean that literally. When a writer of a franchise as huge as the Star Wars Expanded Universe attempts to assimilate developments and events of numerous other canon works all in one story, the risk is high, because if the writer misses a detail somewhere, they could create a massive plot hole by mistake. There is no such result with Plagueis. The combination of and backstory on so much lore is achieved flawlessly, no overlooked details, no retcons, just additions that make the lore better. However, in spite of the fact that this is one of Plagueis' strengths, it is also a minor weakness. If you have not read the movie novelizations or many of the referenced EU works I listed beforehand, I would recommend you not read this book until you have. You should understand what came before it, not only so you can recognize the references here but also so you can appreciate how Plagueis adds to them. But this is only my advice.

Finally finished with that, let me cover characterization. As with just about everything, this is stellar. I will say that there are Star Wars novels out there with, in my opinion, superior characterization than is presented in Plagueis, but this book works very well in that department. For Plagueis, most of the characterization is provided in his belief systems, his relationship with Sidious, his goals, his thoughts, his demeanor, his mannerisms, and his past. Reading this will give you a very clear comprehension of Plagueis' life, from the circumstances of his birth to his death. Plagueis is now one of my favorite Sith Lords because of this book. Without giving away too much, he fits his preceding adulation "Plagueis the Wise." Plagueis' knowledge about the Force as a Sith is considerable. His theories and discoveries about the role and nature of midi-chlorians is also surprisingly good. What Plagueis believes and intends to accomplish is thoroughly character defining for him because of how it relates and contrasts with other Sith, and it bears great relevance on the movement of the story, namely his obsession with discovering a path to immortality that no other Sith has uncovered before.

Sidious is similarly enjoyable to read about. As with Plagueis, Palpatine's past is disclosed in this novel. For some people, that could be a nervous prospect for fear that it might ruin his character, as part of the intrigue of Palpatine has always been the mystique surrounding his history. And for others this would be an anticipated prospect because they want to know once and for all where he came from, at least partially because they want to know how he became such a monster. As for how this was executed, masterfully. Much of his past is both shown and spoken about and not without reason. It plays precisely toward how he develops as a Sith and into his relationship with Plagueis. His character depth is shown in many ways, one of the best, in my opinion, being his musings. Some Star Wars novels have avoided showing events from Palpatine's perspective, as he is usually the antagonist of a story, and therefore the focus of the plot falls to the perspective of the protagonist. This is not always the case but is sometimes. In Plagueis though, Palpatine is one of the two protagonists, and Palpatine is given many sequences where his thoughts about what's happening around him is displayed. Just to give a minor example of what I am talking about (this is not a spoiler), there were occasions where Sidious, in his guises Senator Palpatine, was talking to someone and became impatient or frustrated during the conversation but had to maintain his facade as a mild-mannered, simple politician and so had to endure through the annoyances. This may not sound special in any respect, but considering the fact that Sidious has been characterized repeatedly as a very patient person, not just in his alternate identities, this is a decent insight into him as it shows that his patience has limits. In just about every instance where Sidious has been shown in his Palpatine facade, there has never been any indication about what he really feels and thinks while acting his role. You just see what the facade feels and thinks, not what Palpatine himself really experiences. Just like Plagueis, Palpatine's belief systems, his relationship with Plagueis, his goals, his thoughts, his demeanor, his mannerisms, and his past all add depth to the character.

This should come as no surprise, since he is shown on the back cover of the book: Maul appears in Plagueis. Maul is something of a fan favorite. I would hardly call him one of my favorite Sith Lords, but I do like Maul a good deal. Plagueis incorporates Maul into the story faultlessly. Although he is never given an immense amount of attention, the book dealt with the fact that Maul's place of origin had essentially been retconned by TCW. Originally, Maul was from Iridonia; the show changed this so that he was born on Iridonia but raised on Dathomir, which is a huge change because there were originally no Zabraks on Dathomir. This also changes how he acquired his tattoos. I have to give Luceno credit though; he took a bad concept that retconned continuity and melded it with his story in a way that makes sense. As with the numerous other plot lines that are delved into, this one is done with amazing transitional fluidity. Seriously, there are no occasions where the story seems to go in random directions even though it fits many different characters and plots together. Maul is no exception to that standard. Another favorable point was how the novel built Maul's individual character attributes. There was a particular scene where Maul is contemplating his role as a Sith and his relationship with Sidious, and this was a nice look at his character.

(This could be a minor spoiler; so if you would rather not know, skip this paragraph.) There are some other characters who appear in Plagueis, some of whom I will avoid mentioning. One character I will bring up is Dooku (yes, Palpatine, Maul, and Dooku all appear in the same book). I love Dooku as a character; so reading about him in Plagueis was great. This book filled in a piece of lore that had been mentioned before but not outright shown in a novel or comic. Sourcebooks have referred to meetings that have taken place between Palpatine and Dooku before Dooku defected from the Jedi Order and became a Sith. They have stated that Palpatine befriended Dooku before his fall, alike in many ways to how he befriended Anakin before his fall (if I remember correctly, there was even a personal account by Dooku in Jedi vs Sith: The Essential Guide to the Force where he notes his friendship with Palpatine). But there are no novels or comics, that I am aware of, that actually show this, or at least there were none until Plagueis. The conversations between Dooku and Palpatine is laid out convincingly, in line with both their characters and of course coinciding with continuity.

Onto to possibly my favorite part of Star Wars: the Force. As I have said before and as reinforced by Darth Plagueis, Luceno is one of the best Star Wars writers there is when it comes to the Force. He always manages to add growth to its nature in one way or another and help the reader understand it, and Plagueis is filled with expansions on it. As I described above, Plagueis formulates many theories and makes a number of discoveries about midi-chlorians. The philosophy of Plagueis and Sidious is both unique among Sith and one of the most well-explained systems of thinking among Sith Lords. There is also a comparison and contrast between Plagueis' ideas and Sidious' ideas once the latter's are fully developed. As a lineage, the two are Banite Sith and therefore inherited the teachings of a dynasty but at the same time learn from all different Sith, either to replicate previous Sith's methods or to learn from previous Sith's mistakes. The will of the Force is given monumental precedence in this book, to a level I don't think has been shown in any Star Wars story before. The balance of the Force is of tantamount importance. To give a few examples (hopefully vaguely enough), this book reinforced the fact that the Republic and the Jedi are as much to blame for the imbalance of the Force as the Sith are; it noted that the Sith are actually trying to imbalance the Force toward the dark side; and it gives brief background as to the event (which has been alluded to in sourcebooks before) that led to the Jedi first noticing the Force becoming imbalanced. Another critical part of the Sith's ideology as compared with the Jedi that is driven home here is their opposite views of themselves respective to the Force. Specifically, the Jedi want to serve the Force; the Sith want the Force to serve them. There is a multitude of other Force-related summaries in Plagueis which both serve to build the plot and to catch the interest of people like me who just love reading about the Force. As with the general story, the informative portions of Plagueis pertaining to the Force from the Sith's perspective makes the later events make even more sense. Of course, Palpatine is apprenticed to Plagueis, and this book shows some of the training sessions, all of which are great. Training sessions and exercises performed by either the Jedi or the Sith in attempts to enhance their knowledge of the Force constitute opportunities for the writer to explain the Force while developing the characters as well. So those sequences are among the best.

The instances in which there is a fight happening are worthwhile for an array of reasons. Unlike some books like the Bane trilogy where battles are thrown in needlessly, in Plagueis, they always contribute to the story. There are a decent number of combat sequences in the novel but not much in way of actual lightsaber-to-lightsaber duels. The variety in them gives them substance, as opposed to novels that just throw in duels for no real reason. In addition, the fights themselves can sometimes last a fair amount of time, but the book spends no more time describing them than is necessary. And usually, even if in-universe the fight takes time, the novel actually informing the reader of it is done in only a few paragraphs or less. Referring back to the Bane novels, fights are often prolonged unnecessarily. In Plagueis, it sends its intended message and moves on with the plot, and even more, the plot is not reliant on the presence of repeated fights. The story is deeper than that. Maybe best of all, the violent scenes often serve to portray new facets of the characters, an angle that is unfortunately absent in some Star Wars novels, which can be too outwardly focused in the duration of fights.


Negative Elements
The only legitimate problem I found with Plagueis was that there were a few editing errors, such as a mispelling and an incorrect word tense. This is about it though. If I wanted to reach for a problem, I guess I could say that some parts of the novel are only moderately interesting, but this is the exception to the rule, not the standard. The vast majority of the book is enthralling on account of one or more of the many positive elements I described above. There really is nothing I can blame this book for in a negative sense. If it has any flaws, I probably missed them because of how many areas it succeeds in, not to mention the quality of each individual good element.


You already know my consensus. Darth Plagueis is awesome. As I previously mentioned though, I would suggest that before reading Plagueis that you read many or at least some of the other series I listed, especially those in the Rise of the Empire era. If you want to read it without much prior reading, you can of course do that, but I do believe your reading experience will be heightened with having read those works. If you have already read some or all of them, pick this up as soon as possible.

Score: 10/10 Perfect

[Power NeXus]

Cool reviews.
I still look forward to seeing your thoughts on Shatterpoint.

[Silver]

The Tenebrous Way



Author: Matthew Stover
Series: None
Format: Short story/e-book, standalone
Era: Rise of the Empire
Chronological Year: 67 BSW4


The Tenebrous Way is a short story that is directly related to Darth Plagueis. This review will be short, because there is only so much I can give away about it and because the story itself is very short. However, it is a very good story.

Positive Elements
The descriptions. Matthew Stover is one of my two favorite Star Wars authors (the other being James Luceno), and one of the key pros to Stover's work is his vivid descriptions. One of the great parts of Stover's writing style is that he adapts the descriptions to the situation and character he writes about. When he writes about a very serious event or character, his descriptions become extremely articulate and well-timed. When he writes about a more laid-back situation or character, his descriptions are less complex and just more frank. The wording and undercurrents of the descriptions change to fit the perspective of the character and make them sound more like that character without the story actually being presented in a first person narrative. This is distinct from many other Star Wars writers, not necessarily better but certainly fitting the point Stover's works intend to convey. In The Tenebrous Way, he describes the musings of Darth Tenebrous. As a Banite Sith, Tenebrous despises many ideologies foreign to his own, and the descriptions work in that way. The descriptions offer very fluent and in some ways complicated looks on Tenebrous' ideas. The tone is very serious and almost resentful.

Which leads me to the story. The story is about the death of Darth Tenebrous. Not how he died but what he hoped to accomplish in death. The whole plot is one long thought process that accounts Tenebrous' intentions, belief systems, and relationship with his apprentice. Similar to Darth Plagueis, Tenebrous has an impressive plot twist, the details of which I will not spoil here. Where Darth Plagueis gave background to and tied together later lore, Tenebrous foreshadows it. It foreshadows later events because of what Tenebrous is able to do. Darth Tenebous is a Bith. As a Bith, he possesses a huge cranium, even by the standards of his own species, and customary to his species, he by consequence has unparalleled calculating skills. His own Force perceptions in conjunction with his intellect allows him to tell that there will be an event in the future that will be brought about by his apprentice's experiments, and this event will reshape the galaxy. He then plans to interject himself into this future, planning for a way he can become relevant and prominent, because he foresaw that by the time it happened, he would already be dead. These are the only details I give about this without spoiling the story.

As for characterization, this has always been one of Stover's strengths. He just knows how to make a well-faceted character, not necessarily better than any other EU writer but certainly better than a good number of them. Tenebrous' ideas, outlook, regard for his apprentice, and so forth are all great for his character. He is by no means the deepest Star Wars character, but he as a good amount of character depth all the same.

Now the Force. Stover is one of the single best authors there is for expanding on the Force. He does this even in a story as short as Tenebrous to a degree. He gives the ideas of some of the latter Banite Sith, particularly Tenebrous, and how they compare with the original Banite Sith. It also discusses midi-chlorians to a superb extent, although in what capacity, I will neglect to mention so as not to spoil the story.


Negative Elements
There really are no flaws with this. In tandem with Darth Plagueis, it constitutes a great plot. Even on its own, it is a thoroughly engaging story. As with Darth Maul: Saboteur, it is too short to really be amazing, but it is still great.


Score: 9/10 Excellent

[Silver]

Feb 6, 2012 22:49:30 GMT -5 Power NeXus said:

Cool reviews.
I still look forward to seeing your thoughts on Shatterpoint.

That will be my third next review. My next will be The Approaching Storm (not sure when I will get around to that), after that will be Attack of the Clones, and after that is Shatterpoint.

[Silver]

Attack of the Clones



Author: R. A. Salvatore
Series: Prequel trilogy novelizations
Format: Trilogy. Book 2 of 3
Era: Rise of the Empire
Chronological Year: 22 BSW4


Overview:
"Courageous to the point of recklessness, and possessing a wild independent streak, twenty-year-old Anakin Skywalker, apprentice to Obi-Wan Kenobi, is coming of age in a time of great upheaval. The attempted assassination of Senator Padmé Amidala before a crucial vote thrusts the Republic even closer to the edge of disaster. Unbeknownst to the Jedi, a low rumble of discontent is building into the roar of thousands of clone soldiers readying for the ultimate fight. The dark side is growing. Masters Yoda and Mace Windu sense enormous unease…for the fiercest battle of dark versus light is fast approaching, threatening to consume them all in a tidal wave of war."


And this is book two of the novelization reviews. In accordance with the observation I mentioned on my TPM review, the novelization of a movie presents the opportunity for a potentially different experience than the movie. As everyone knows, the PT has very mixed reception, but even if you are of the opinion that the movies were poor, that does not necessarily mean the novelizations are by extension. With that said: Attack of the Clones.

Positive Elements
This book has several items I can praise it for; so let me start with the obvious one: its descriptions. I have only read Star Wars novels by R. A. Salvatore, but I know that he is a very well-liked author. And this book gives me a clear reason why. His manner of storytelling is simply easy to be engaged in. The descriptions are comprehensive and fluent. There is no sense of dullness at any point in the book, and best of all, the descriptions are very character-centric in many ways.

Which is my next point: Where The Phantom Menace made the error of giving too much preeminent focus to outward descriptions, Attack of the Clones spends as much, if not more time demonstrating for the reader what the characters are thinking, feeling, and experiencing. This is what a novelization is supposed to do. A movie is a visual medium; therefore, it should be on the movie to show what's happening. A novelization should explain the inner struggle and study the characters to a far greater degree, as it has the means to do so on a level a movie is incapable of. AotC delivers that very well. Even if you dislike these characters, you have a good grasp of what they deal with, how they progress, and why their circumstances are affecting them. I was especially impressed with how Salvatore took the time to characterize Padme. Anakin and Obi-Wan are obviously important to add depth to, but the fact that the book spent time to articulate Padme's musings and dilemmas helped move the story along. Other characters are not left in the dark in this either. Dooku and Yoda are favorites of mine, and they are handled very well.

On the note, remember those painful scenes in the movie where Anakin and Padme were supposed to be connecting with each other, but the dialog was just hard to swallow? Well, in the novel, that dialog is still there, but there is not only more dialog in addition to it but there is also the private thoughts of the characters to glean further insight. This makes the sequences with Anakin and Padme far more bearable and even interesting to read about. You are not limited to what the characters facially express or what their words are. You can understand their underlying mentalities, and that just renders the entire book more enjoyable.

Anakin's characterization is probably the most sympathetic. As I will elaborate on later in this review, there are scenes in this book that are not in the movie. For instance, the first few chapeters of the book details Shmi's life with Cliegg Lars before and up to her capture by the Tusken Raiders. This affords the reader more reason to empathize with Anakin's pain at her loss, because you actually saw her character in the same book. True, there is the previous book/movie to draw on for Shmi, but the story does benefit from AotC introducing facets to the relationship between Anakin and his mother before his arrival on Tatooine. And really, it does actually work, even more so because the novel showed how much Shmi missed Anakin prior to her capture; so when Anakin finally arrived to save her, the scene became that much more poignant.

Jango and Boba were surprisingly intriguing also. As I mentioned, there are more scenes in the novel than the movie. A few of these scenes are devoted to Jango and Boba. Similar to how understanding the connection between Anakin and his mother before her death accumulates empathy from the reader, the Salvatore is smart enough to handle Jango and Boba's relationship in a tantamount manner. There are scenes that show the two just being father and son, not really involved in any special activity or conversation; it just shows them as Jango and Boba. This helps also, because Jango and Boba are both interesting characters (in the EU, that is), and since Jango dies, the reader is more invested in his death because of the presence of the scenes between them.

The Force is handled well here as well. This is hardly the go-to novel for exposition on the Force, but it is pretty decent. I like the meditation scene with Yoda, I like the direction provided by the Force to Obi-Wan, I like the questions about Force Visions with Anakin, and so on. The book is not hugely explanatory in this regard but still commendable.

Salvatore is fairly skilled at writing fights. The action is portrayed clearly and concisely analytically. When a character makes a move, the book lets you know it. When a character changes tactics, the book lets you know it. Not the best fighting sequences I have read in a Star Wars novel, but they are very good. The pacing is probably the best part of them, aside from their detail. Even protracted combat never lost my interest. And on the subject of pacing, this is done well also. The book is fluid enough and transitions into its next point without losing interest (and this of course ties into the efficiency of the descriptions).


Negative Elements
If I could complain about one matter, it would probably be that characterization and combat are not intertwined. The writers who, in my opinion, write the best fights are those who display facets of the characters in the midst of combat. Salvatore only shadowed this. Mostly, when a character is fighting, the descriptions become mostly outward rather inward, leaving you with no question of what occurred during a fight but not grasping the intrinsic aspects of the characters as they fight one another. Do the fights suffer from this? Not necessarily. They are still entertaining, well-written battles. But I think they could have been better if the internal struggle was shown alongside the external struggle.

There really are no other distinctly "negative elements" to AotC that come to mind. If I can fault the book for anything else, all it could be is that, to me, this is simply not the single greatest Star Wars novel ever written. But it is a very good one.


Like I said, Attack of the Clones is thoroughly pleasing as both a single novel and as a companion piece to the movie. Its detail and characterization is without reproof, and I recommend picking it up.

Score: 9/10 Excellent

[Silver]

Shatterpoint



Author: Matthew Stover
Series: Clone Wars
Format: Standalone
Era: Rise of the Empire
Chronological Year: 21 BSW4


Overview:
"Mace Windu is a living legend: Jedi Master, skilled diplomat, and devastating fighter. But he is also a man of peace—and for the first time in a thousand years, the galaxy is at war.
The jungle planet of Haruun Kal, the homeworld Mace barely remembers, has become a battleground for the Republic and the renegade Separatist movement. The Jedi Council has sent Depa Billaba—Mace's former Padawan—to the planet to train the local tribesmen as a guerrilla resistance force to fight against the Separatists. But Depa has vanished. The only clue to her disappearance is a cryptic recording that hints of madness and murder...a recording in Depa's own voice.
Mace Windu trained her. Only he can find her. Now Mace must journey alone into one of the most treacherous jungles in the galaxy—and into his own heritage. He will leave behind the Republic he serves, the civilization he believes in, everything but his passion for peace and his devotion to his former Padawan. And he will learn the terrible price that must be paid when keepers of the peace are forced to make war."


I know some have been requesting this, both because they consider it a good book and (hopefully) because they know I love Matthew Stover's writing. Let me state outright that I consider this Stover's weaker book. In my opinion, his other works are simply better than this. But with that said, this is still a great novel.

Positive Elements
Stover often adopts a different narrative structure for his Star Wars novels; so allow me to address that first. The narrative structure in Shatterpoint involves journal entries written by Mace Windu and presented to the reader in the first-person. These entries provide insight into the character that is more detailed by the simple fact that it comes straight from Mace himself. They serve to move the story along, as we can read about a sequence from Mace's perspective and ascertain his observations of it. What these journal passages do best though is parallel Mace's character development throughout the book. Shatterpoint opens with a journal entry from Mace, and while I will refrain from telling what the entry specifically entails, I will say that the book also ends on a journal entry from Mace that shows how he progressed in his understanding and outlook.

And that relates into the characterization of the novel. Characterization is one feature of storytelling that Matthew Stover does more skillfully than almost any other EU author. Mace and Depa are both interesting characters to read about, Mace especially as he is the protagonist. There is a very obvious struggle for Mace within and without and development as he overcomes and comes to terms with it. The novel also takes the time to describe facets of his individual character, such as his actual enjoyment of fighting, a contrast to his Jedi training. The link between Mace and Depa is just as satisfying as well, as Depa was Mace's Padawan. Both are interesting characters on their own, but when dealt with together, it adds another layer to both of them. The characterization functions well within the book respective to Mace and Depa, and the development of the characters is evident as you follow it.

The story of the book is this: Depa Billaba becomes disillusioned while on the world of Haruun Kal, Mace's homeworld, as a result of the local Summertime War, a series of guerrilla skirmishes throughout the jungles fought between the Korunnai and the Balawai tribes. However, as the war itself is a cycle of violence fought brutally over the jungles of Haruun Kal, with both sides of the war being guilty of needless violence, Depa sees no solution to the battle and begins to lose her mind to the sheer darkness that war radiates. She sends a message to Mace telling him not to search for her. Windu, of course, does travel to Haruun Kal and looks for Depa. While there, he becomes involved with the Summertime War and attempts to deal with the matter and save Depa before either are fully consumed by the war there. This becomes further complicated by the emergence of, and Mace coming into conflict with, Kar Vastor, the lor pelek (lord of the jungle), who is of the same tribe as Mace and who fights with the Korunnai. Not planning on spoiling any major plot points for you, but the major themes of the story are the horrors of war. The Summertime War itself is an unnecessary, destructive feud that had been perpetuated for decades. Because both the Korunnai and the Balawai are wasting their efforts and their lives, Mace has to face a war where there are no easy solutions, no clear "bad guy" he can take his fight to.

This also associates with the Force expansions within the book. In Shatterpoint, Stover spends a considerable amount of time discussing a philosophical viewpoint which he refers to as the Dark. The Dark is a concept he has dealt with in other novels besides Shatterpoint, namely Revenge of the Sith and especially Luke Skywalker and the Shadows of Mindor. He is also not the only author who has used this concept. Sean Stewart devotes time to it in Yoda: Dark Rendezvous. But the premise of the outlook can be accurately summarized like this: All things die. And, yes, it really is that simple, and it also is not that simple. All things die and all of the implications that has attached to it. This concept causes a character, like Mace, to question the powers of light if light burns out, if life dies. Does that mean darkness is the ultimate power? Does that mean there is no purpose to it all? The book marries this abstraction to the horrors of war by illuminating the fact that darkness is spread by death, and war brings death, no matter who wins. In the jungles of Haruun Kal, both the Korunnai and the Balawai are contributors to a pointless war that has no meaning other than to kill members of both sides. This awakens Mace to the realization of how dangerous war is for a Jedi. Jedi thrive on the continued existence of life, as the light side is representative of life, light, and creation, while the dark side is representative of death, darkness, and entropy. War only strengthens the dark side, and the Jedi just entered the Clone Wars with the Separatists. The whole conceptualization of this is demonstrated with far more complexity and detail than I listed here, and it is worth reading about. Barring that, the rest of the appropriation of the Force in this story is paramount as well.

Matthew Stover's combat sequences are usually very good. If you read his novels, you will notice that Stover always achieves characterization in the midst of external combat description. Stover himself is a martial artist, which, I believe, is part of why his combat sequences are so entertaining. But more than that, he always manages to show aspects of the characters he is writing about while they fight, whether it be to denote their code of ethics, their philosophy, their inner struggle, etc. This is why Stover may very possibly be the supreme Star Wars writer pertaining to combat. Not only is the external striving of combat displayed, but the internal striving is as well.

Among his other novels, I believe Shatterpoint's descriptions are of a lower standard, but they can be outright great also. Stover tends to adapt his descriptions depending on whose perspective he is writing from. If he writes from the perspective of a character such as Nick, the descriptions will be far less serious and more conversationally worded. If he writes from the perspective of a character such as Mace, the descriptions will be more intelligible and humorless. This is always a strength for him because it constitutes a way of showing the character even more by having the descriptions worded almost the way the character would say them.


Negative Elements
For all I can give this book credit for, there are noticeable flaws as well. A major one for me is when Mace is traveling through the jungles on Haruun Kal and there is no battle raging. The descriptions simply explain the travels, and to be honest, I just never found these interesting. I felt like they dragged longer than necessary, that the descriptions were uncharacteristically dull, and that they added little to the story. The descriptions themselves can be difficult to follow at times as well, simply because they approach settings from odd angles. With every story I have read by Matthew Stover, this has never been the case. He always supplies the reader with articulate, well-versed descriptions that ranged from intellectually worded to descriptions that read like everyday conversation. With this though, I am at a loss for what it was, but the descriptions in these situations read more alike to those of Barbara Hambly or Kathy Tyers in the sense of them being hard to care about and unnecessarily obscure.

The main problem I have with Shatterpoint though is that I never cared about any character except Mace and Depa. Kar Vastor was simply too shallow for me to be invested in. Granted, he was a legitimately threatening antagonist, and I can appreciate that. But to me, he lacked real depth. All I can give him is that he has a cultural connection to Mace, which is fine, but without the character himself having much substance to him, I see no reason why that should matter to me. I have that exact problem with Nick. Nick Rostu.... I'm not going to lie, this character just annoyed me. The issue I have with him is not simply a lack of depth. While I do believe that Nick should and could have had more facets to his character, it was not as if he was devoid of it entirely (this is made obvious by his personality, which is very sardonic and cynical). My problem is that his characterization being insufficient coupled with his sarcastic outlook did not simply render him uninteresting to me, it rendered him irritating to me. I did find him entertaining and laugh at his responses a few times, but for the most part, he just bothered me. What is so strange about this is that in Luke Skywalker and the Shadows of Mindor, I substantially liked Nick and, for that matter, Kar as well. In that novel, their characters were managed in a more fascinating fashion, at least to me. I really can't explain why I found them so much more tolerable in that book; they just seemed more interesting, maybe because their growth was more evident. My disinterest in characters in Shatterpoint carries over into the rest of the characters also. Geptun, Chalk, and so on. I just found none of them very intriguing to read about.

Lastly, my complaint is with the ending fight. This is a spoiler if you have not read the book but plan to; so if you have misgivings about knowing details beforehand, stop reading here. Spoiler: In the final duel between Mace and Depa, Depa stabbed Mace through the torso, her lightsaber protruding from one side of him and out the other, and yet in spite of that and in spite of being heavily tired, he manages to challenge and fend her off with a gaping hole through his gut.... How in the world does that work? Since when is Mace's pain tolerance, not to mention endurance, such that he can walk and fight with a potentially lethal wound? How can he even physically function that way? If he could do that, how did Kar Vastor succeed in beating Mace into unconsciousness earlier in the novel if he can handle that much physical trauma? It makes no sense, and it is not consistent with the character's established abilities (especially if we take into account later showings, though I can't fairly fault Stover for not considering events that had not been written yet). Really, had Mace not been injured that way, the duel itself would have been flawless. There are no other portions of it I take issue with; so throwing that in just ruined it for me because it administered a factor in the duel that should've made it impossible for Mace to continue. Yet the final action sequence is equally silly. After Depa falls comatose, Kar Vastor confronts Mace. Since Mace is wounded and fatigued and since he lost to Kar in their previous fight, he realizes that he has no chance in a direct battle. So what does he do? He telekinetically grips a vibroshield and hurls it toward Vastor. Kar, in response, holds up his two vibroshields to guard himself. But because the edge of a vibroshield is apparently sufficient to slice through the sheer face of another vibroshield, it just strikes straight through Kar's shields and plants itself into his chest............. Um...no. That just...doesn't happen. At all. Ever. No. Just...no. Come on, do I even have to explain why that doesn't work? Kar Vastor has been employing these shields for years. In that time, he never once learned that a vibroshield can penetrate another vibroshield? Yet Mace can deduce that in a matter of days? What sense does that make? See, in the duel with Depa, Mace receiving a stab wound was the only flaw. Remove that, and the duel would have no problems. With this though, there is just no excuse. It just reads like a cop-out, and to be honest, I think that is exactly what it is. It's a weak way for Mace to win the fight without actually having to win the fight because he already proved and acknowledged that he can't win the fight. /Spoiler


What makes me uneasy about these complaints I have with the book is that they are so unlike Stover's standard writing. Stover is not one to give dull descriptions, he is not one to leave characters depthless, and he is not one to write poor fight scenes. This is why these criticisms of Shatterpoint trouble me so much. Stover is one of my favorite Star Wars authors, one of the best of the best, and it agitates me to have to excoriate pieces of his works that I know he is very good at. Now, does that mean I regard Shatterpoint as a bad book? Not at all. Just the opposite. The book contains an overwhelming amount of substance to offset its few faults. While I would relegate this novel as probably Stover's weakest, even his weakest book is better than many other author's best, and with that said, it is definitely one of the highlights of the Clone Wars material and of the Rise of the Empire era as a whole.

Score: 8.5/10 Great



Equipment



Author: Matthew Stover
Series: None
Format: Short story/e-book, standalone
Era: Rise of the Empire
Chronological Year: 22 BSW4


Equipment is a short story included in the paperback release of Shatterpoint; so I will review this here.

Positive Elements
The premise of this story is as follows: a clone trooper involved in the Battle of Haruun Kal records his account of the engagement. The story describes how a trooper's equipment can save him if he takes care of it, summarizing that point in the motto, "Take care of your equipment, and your equipment will take care of you."

The story is of course written in the first person, and I do appreciate the authentic feeling that this is being told by military personnel. The details are interesting enough in that sense, and the descriptions, per Stover's penchant for altering his descriptive style to fit the character's perspective, does benefit from it being told in the first person.


Negative Elements
Honestly, this story just bores me at times. It is a very short story, only ten or eleven pages, but there is no real intrigue here. I like the feel of it, but the character and the plot, while not inherently poor, are just not very meaningful to me.


This is a nice addition to the story of the battle over Haruun Kal, but in my opinion, the story is too basic to deliver anything substantive.

Score 6/10 Average

[Silver]

Yoda: Dark Rendezvous



Author: Sean Stewart
Series: Clone Wars
Format: Standalone
Era: Rise of the Empire
Chronological Year: 19 BSW4


Overview:
"As the Clone Wars rage, Jedi Master Yoda must once again face one of his greatest adversaries—Count Dooku....
The savage Clone Wars have forced the Republic to the edge of collapse. During the height of battle, one Jedi Knight escapes the carnage to deliver a message to Yoda on Coruscant. It appears Dooku wants peace and demands a rendezvous. Chances are slim that the treacherous Count is sincere, but with a million lives at stake, Yoda has no choice.
The meeting will take place on Vjun, a planet steeped in evil. The challenge could not be more difficult. Can Yoda win back his once promising pupil from the dark side, or will Count Dooku unleash his sinister forces against his former mentor? Either way, Yoda is sure of one thing: This battle will be one of the fiercest he'll ever face."


Yoda: Dark Rendezvous. Need I say more? This book's quality should speak for itself. It is structured so flawlessly, themed so uniquely, why do I even have to say anything else about it? Obviously, I love this novel, and hopefully, I can convince you to read it so you can love it too.

Positive Elements
I almost feel like I should discuss the negative elements, because that would be easier. What is not a positive element in this book? Since I generally do, I will start with the descriptions. Sean Stewart's descriptions to me are similar to James Luceno's descriptions in their vocabulary and similar to James Kahn's in their cognizance. Not to say that Stewart's descriptions are better or worse than Luceno or Kahn's descriptions or that they are anything resembling identical, but that is the best way I can think of to describe (no pun intended) his descriptions. Stewart also has a few other notable attributes to his descriptions, such as his frequent use of similes. This is by no stretch unique, but few, if any other Star Wars authors employ similes with the consistency Stewart does or the astute manner that he does. There is nothing these descriptions leave to your imagination, but the two things that Stewart describes especially well, in my opinion, are the mindsets/musings/emotions of characters and settings. The settings in this novel are not even new in the EU. Vjun and Coruscant are the two main locations, as well as travel by ship. Nothing about that is in any way uncommon or unheard of, and yet Stewart gives his locations a brilliant sense of thematic meaning.

On that subject, let's address the tone of the book. The tone is very specific in this novel and rarely deviates at any point. In fact, the very first line of the book is this: "The sun was setting on Coruscant." That establishes the tone for the entire novel. It is not simply describing a locational phenomena; it sets the darker undercurrent that resonates throughout the story. If I were to define the tone of Yoda: Dark Rendezvous in one word, that word would be "melancholy." It really is a very bleak story, and it works well to gather the reader's sympathy for the characters as they endure the issues at hand.

The narrative style is another fantastic part of this book, if a very simple one. This is not like Revenge of the Sith where the narrative structure is undeniably unique. That line I quoted above, "The sun was setting on Coruscant," that is part of the narrative structure. It begins with that line, and the last paragraph in the novel begins with a correlating line. As well, at various places in the novel, there is a flashback sequence to a time decades earlier. This takes place with either Yoda or Dooku as both reminisce about their past relationship with one another as teacher and student. These scenes are not very symmetrically ordered, so to speak, but one of them is told in the present tense, which changes its narrative. Another combines both present and past tense structure in order to allow the character to fully consider the event as it happened. This type of delivery is part of what makes YDR such a great read.

The main plot revolves around Dooku sending a message to Yoda, telling him that he wants to rendezvous with him so the two can formulate a peacable resolution to the Clone Wars. Yoda brings two Padawans, Whie and Scout, and two Masters, Jai Maruk and Maks Leem, with him as he travels to Vjun where Dooku ordered the convocation. Whie's family originated on Vjun, and he intends to travel there, potentially to learn about his parentage. Yoda doubts Dooku's honesty, but he means to save Dooku from the Sith if possible. That basically summarizes the overall plot, but each character has an exclusive sub-plot that joins into the whole while simultaneously developing the characters to noticeable and worthwhile degrees.

I should briefly cover Stewart's references to other works. He clearly did his research in preparation for this novel, and it shows. He references Legacy of the Jedi and the Republic comic series more than anything else. LotJ is addressed mostly in relevance to Dooku's time as a Jedi, and YDR expounds on its contents. Republic is mentioned respective to Sora Bulq and General Grievous, whom are both listed as subordinates of Count Dooku.

I mentioned above that Stewart's descriptions are incredible for characterization, and they are. Yoda and Dooku are two of my favorite characters in Star Wars, and they steal the show here. While there are other protagonists besides Yoda and other antagonists besides Dooku, they are the ones who, for me at least, were the most interesting. Let's start with Yoda. This book manages to form a conglomerate picture of Yoda, drawing on every other source we have on him. We see Yoda the sage, Yoda the philosopher, Yoda the teacher, Yoda the warrior, Yoda the trickster, Yoda the elder, and so on. Unlike many other authors who only convey one single facet of Yoda's person, Stewart conveys all of them. He shows the wise side of Yoda who instructed Luke on the nature of the Force in The Empire Strikes Back. He shows the aged side of Yoda who suffered from his time in Return of the Jedi. He shows the colder side of Yoda who was critical of a nine-year-old Anakin in The Phantom Menace. He shows the threatening side of Yoda who outfought Dooku in Attack of the Clones. He shows the child-like side of Yoda who tested Luke by pretending to be half-crazy in The Empire Strikes Back. This is what you receive from this novel. Yoda in every characteristic manner you have ever seen from him is here. Then there is Dooku, of course. This novel delves hugely into Dooku's backstory. I mentioned when I reviewed Legacy of the Jedi that the story was very Dooku-centric. So is Dark Rendezvous. Not only does YDR reference events that occurred in Legacy of the Jedi, it expands on them and tells new stories about Dooku's time as a Jedi. Like Yoda, you see Dooku in all of his stages here. Dooku the Sith, Dooku the Jedi, Dooku the philosopher, Dooku the idealist, Dooku the noble, Dooku the tyrant, and so on. The best part is that the novel's inclusion of so many of Yoda and Dooku's traits is not due to lack of coherency or focus. All of it flows smoothly through what the novel intends to tell the reader, aligning seamlessly with the rest of the book. How could this possibly be better? Because of the relationship between Yoda and Dooku. Both have history with one another which is explored at great lengths in this novel, and as they grew older, both leaned toward decidedly different systems of thinking. In this novel, Yoda and Dooku are reaching their last years, and the sheer weight of how much time has passed in conjunction with their respective struggles, both with one another and without, serves to lend incredible weight to what they experience. Interestingly enough, the two of them have a considerable amount of respect for one another in spite of their opposing standpoints. They wish they could be on the same side again, but their convictions prevent it. Not to spoil anything, but there is a scene somewhere in the novel where Yoda and Dooku just talk to one another with all frankness and sincerity, discussing their disparate ideas and their previous friendship with one another, and it is sad to read, not just in that scene but in any scene with Yoda and Dooku. There is a sense of pain from both of them as they relate their views and their connection, considering what it meant to them. This really is what sold the novel for me, what made it such a good read. Even setting aside the other characters, the plot, and the narrative devices, just watching Yoda and Dooku talk to one another is enough. I can read the scenes where Yoda and Dooku share conversations without reading anything else in the book, they're so good. But fortunately, we have plenty of other enjoyable scenes and characters as well.

The rest of the characters in this book, namely Whie and Scout, are interesting in their own right as well. Whie and Scout have their own individual character arcs that are relevant to one another and to Yoda. Whie's coming to grips with the prospect of his own death and Scout's possibly being sent to the Agricultural Corps are engaging. Both are very young Jedi, still teenagers, and their understanding is still to be developed. This helps drive the story as something of a counterbalance to Dooku and Yoda's monumental wisdom and experience. Also, I will not reveal where or how this is done, but somewhere in the novel within one of the character arcs, there is a very clever reference to Revenge of the Sith that plays directly into the facets of one of the characters. As with Yoda and Dooku, Whie and Scout's sub-plots reach satisfactory conclusions.

And now we come to the Force. Pertaining to the Force, Sean Stewart is in the league of writers like Luceno, Stover, Reaves, and so on. He has this very solid grasp of the Force that I wish more writers had. He understands its qualities, and he deepens them. For example, I like how Jai identified the embrace of the dark side as not simply dark intentions but dark actions born out of dark intentions. This is an interesting line to draw, because for all of the talk about "turning to the dark side," there is very little exposition on what solitarily triggers that. There are a number of determinants to it, and isolating them is important. This novel also examines Stover's concept of the Dark, though not with that term. It maintains the eventual cease of existence for living beings and whether there is any meaning to it or a Force to return to after their physical deaths. It analogizes this point by Yoda's remark that most of the universe is dark with there only being a limited number of worlds, stars, and nebulae to light the otherwise black void of space and that the Jedi choose to be lights in a dark universe. Yoda also comments that death feeds only the dark side and that living itself gives value and honor to life. On the other side of the spectrum, Dooku and Ventress speak to one another about the components of the way of the Sith and the dark side, specifically that were Dooku to induct Ventress into the Sith Oder, he would eventually either be forced to kill her or be killed himself, explaining it with a water metaphor for the Force; he also analyzes what he considers the ideal method for training a Sith apprentice with his preference being to give an apprentice only enough knowledge to grow powerful and let that apprentice be the master's public face and scapegoat. Dooku, in his own musings, contemplates the relationship of the body and the spirit. Stewart also contrasts the viewpoints of the Jed and Sith/dark Jedi, namely those of Yoda and Dooku and Whie and Ventress, the latter believing in the hopelessness of temporal existence and the former believing in a meaningful worth to existence. There are more instances I could list. There really are few novels superior to Dark Rendezvous when it comes to the Force, and I wish most other writers were capable of replicating the dimensions that Stewart can give to it.

The battle sequences are competently written. They do what a good fight scene is supposed to: show what happens outwardly and show what happens inwardly. When characters engage one another, the novel does more than represent the physical movements and attacks; it represents the character's musings, what the fight means to them, what they hope to accomplish, what their emotional state is. For some of the characters, their character development is realized during a fight. No fight is without inner substance to it, and no fight is ever needless. All assist the furtherance of the story.


Negative Elements
If I could complain about anything, it would be that Whie and Scout's stories are not as interesting as Yoda and Dooku's, yet the former two are given as much precedence in the story. But this really is not a complaint so much as a compliment to how excellent Yoda and Dooku's plot line is, and Whie and Scout are still well worth reading about. So really, I have nothing to take issue with here.


Yoda: Dark Rendezvous is among the best Star Wars novels out there. There are only so many ways I can say how good this novel is, but really, in every regard, the writing of this book is superb. It just does everything right, and the end result is a compelling read.

Score: 10/10 Perfect